THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE     BELLS 


BY 


EDGAR   ALLAN    POE, 


ILLUSTRATED   BY 

DARLEY,  McCUTCHEON,  FREDERICKS,  PERKINS, 
KING,   RIORDAN   AND   NORTHAM. 


PORTER    &    COATES, 
PHILADELPHIA. 


COPYRIGHT, 

i  881  , 
BY   PORTER   &  COATES 


«**$ 


s? 

8 

1 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


ENGRAVKD  BY  JAS.  \V.  LAUDERHACH. 


Illustrated  Title R.  Riordan. 

Head -piece Charles  P.  King. 

Vignette Charles  P.  AV//^. 

"Hear  the  sledges  with  the  bells"  .      .    F.   O.   C   Darlcy. 
"What    a    world     of    merriment     their 

melody  foretells!" 5.  G.  McCutchcon. 

"'How  they  tinkle,  tinkle,  tinkle"     .      .   A.  Fredericks. 
"Hear  the  mellow  wedding-bells"  .      .   F.  O.  C.  Darley. 


449852 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ARTIST. 

"  Golden  bells!" Charles  P.  King. 

"From  the  molten-golden   notes"    .  F.   O.   C.  Darley. 
"Oh,  from  out  the  sounding  cells  "    .   R.  Riordan. 
"  To  the  swinging  and  the  ringing  "  .   A.  Fredericks. 
"Hear  the  loud  alarum-bells"     .      .    Granville  Perkins. 
"  How  they  scream  out  their  affright ! "   R.  Riordan. 
<l  In  the  clamorous  appealing  to  the 

mercy  of  the  fire"  .     .     .     .   F.  O.  C.  Darley. 
"In    a   mad    expostulation    with    the 

deaf  and  frantic  fire"    .      .      .    Granville  Perkins. 
"Oh,  the  bells,  bells,  bells  !"  .      .      .    Granville  Perkins. 
"Yet  the  ear  it  fully  knows"      .      .    Granville  Perkins. 
"Hear  the  tolling  of  the  bells"  .      .   F.  O.  C.  Darley. 
"In  the  silence  of  the  night"     .     .   Miss  C.  A.  Northam. 
"And  trie  people, — ah,  the  people"  .    Granville  Perkins. 
"And  their  king  it  is  who  tolls"    .   A.  Fredericks. 
Tail -piece     .      . Charles  P.  King. 


WHAT  a  world  of  merriment  their  melody  foretells ! 


LTOW  they  tinkle,   tinkle,  tinkle, 

In  the  icy  air  of  night ! 
While  the  stars  that  oversprinkle 
All  the  heavens  seem  to  twinkle 

With  a  crystalline   delight, — 
Keeping  time,  time,   time, 
In   a  sort  of  Runic   rhyme, 
To  the  tintinnabulation   that  so  musically  wells 
From  the  bells,  bells,   bells,  bells, 

Bells,   bells,   bells,— 
From  the  jingling  and  the  tinkling  of  the  bells. 


HEAR  the  mellow  wedding-bells, — 


GOLDEN  bells ! 
What    a    world    of  happiness    their    har- 
mony foretells  ! 
Through  the  balmy  air  of  night 

How    they  ring 
E£^_".-__  out   their 

5jf|  delight ! 


the  molten-golden  notes, 
And  all  in  tune, 
What  a  liquid  ditty  floats 

To  the  turtle-dove  that  listens  while  she  gloats 
On  the  moon ! 


OH,  from,  out  the  sounding  cells 
What  a  gush  of  euphony  voluminously  wells  ! 
How  it  swells  ! 
How  it  dwells 


On  the  Future  !  how  it  tells 
Of  the  rapture  that  impels 


O  the  swinging  and  the  ringing 

Of  the  bells,  bells,  bells, 
Of  the  bells,  bells,  bells,  bells, 

Bells,  bells,  bells,— 
To  the  rhyming  and  the  chiming  of  the 


HEAR  the  loud  alarum-bells. — 
Brazen  bells  ! 
What  a  tale  of  terror,  now,  their 

turbulency  tells ! 
In  the  startled  ear  of  night 


H 


OW  they  scream  out  their  affright ! 
Too  much  horrified  to  speak, 
They  can  only  shriek,  shriek, 
Out  of  tune, 


IN  the  clamorous  appealing  to  the  mercy  of  the  fire, 


desperate  desire, 
And  a  resolute  endeavor, 
Now — now  to  sit  or  never, 
By    the    side    of   the    pale-faced 
moon. 


1 


\H,  the  bells,  bells,  bells! 

\Yhat  a  tale  their  terror  tells 

Of  despair ! 
How  they  clang,  and  clash,  and  roar ! 
What  a  horror  they  outpour 
On  the  bosom  of  the  palpitating  air ! 


YET  the  ear  it  fully  knows, 
By  the  twanging. 
And  the  clanging, 
How  the  danger  ebbs  and  flows ; 
Yet  the  ear  distinctly  tells, 
In  the  jangling, 
And  the  wrangling, 


How  the  danger  sinks  and  swells, 
By  the   sinking  or  the  swelling  in  the 
anger  of  the  bells, — 
Of  the  bells  — 
Of  the  bells,  bells,  bells,  bells, 
Bells,  bells,  bells — 

In  the  clamor  and  the 

;—  ^          clangor  of  the 

bells ! 


H1 


FEAR  the  tolling  of  the  bells,— 

Iron  bells  ! 

What  a  world  of  solemn  thought  their  monody 
compels  ! 


FN  the  silence  of  the  night, 

How  we  shiver  with  affright 
At  the  melancholy  menace  of  their  tone ; 
For  every  sound  that  floats 
From  the  rust  within  their  throats 
Is  a  groan. 


449852 


AND 

the  people, — 
ah,  the  people, — 
They  that  dwell  up 
*v          in  the  steeple, 
/    All  alone, 

And  who,  tolling,  tolling,  toll- 
ing, 

In  that  muffled  monotone, 
Feel  a  glory  in  so  rolling 

On  the  human  heart  a  stone— 
They  are    neither  man   nor 

woman, — 

They  are   neither  brute 
nor  human, — 

They  are  ghouls : 


AND  their    king  it    is    who 
tolls ; 
And  he  rolls,  rolls,  rolls, 

Rolls, 

A  paean  from  the  bells! 
And  his  merry  bosom  swells 

With  the  paean  of  the  bells ! 
And  he  dances,  and  he   yells; 
Keeping  time,  time,  time, 
In  a  sort  of  Runic  rhyme, 
To  the  paean  of  the  bells, — 
Of  the  bells  : 


I/KEEPING  time,  time,  time, 
Av    In  a  sort  of  Runic  rhyme^ 

To  the  throbbing  of  the  bells, — 
Of  the  bells,  bells,  bells  — 

To  the  sobbing  of  the  bells ; 
Keeping  time,  time,  time, 

As  he  knells,  knells,  knells, 
In  a  happy  Runic  rhyme, 

To  the  rolling  of  the  bells, — 
Of  the  bells,  bells,  bells  — 

To  the  tolling  of  the  bells, 
Of  the  bells,  bells,  bells,  bells — 

Bells,  bells,  bells — 
To  the  moaning  and  the  groaning  of  the  bells. 


- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


JL   JAN  17  1989' 


EC'S  UMJffi 
mi     DEC  -7  71 

DEC    3t97« 


MAR081989 


-3t 


REC'D  LD-U 
QLAPR15  19 


«95 


UNIVERSITY  ot  CALIFORNIA 

AT 

LOS  ANGELES 
LIBRARY 


